Isabelle Faust, Silke Avenhaus - Schumann: Violin Sonata Nos. 1-3 (2000)

These performances are absolutely stunning, so much so that a reappraisal of Schumann’s Violin sonatas is in order. What once sounded like pre-Brahmsian music (as presented by Ara Malikian and Serouj Kradjian on Hänssler Classic), with its harmonic exploration and varied moods, is here revealed as the full-bodied passion of Schumann at his most impetuous. (It’s interesting to note that these two women–violinist Isabelle Faust and pianist Silke Avenhaus–come up with far more aggressive and masculine interpretations than do the two men on the Hänssler disc.)